Playing With Magic
by Thecattygrl
Summary: Arthur goes out one day to runs some errands. He comes home to Alfred summoning dark spirits. It's just another day in the Kirkland house.


"Alfred," Matthew wrung his hands, following his twin with his bear in to as they crept into their father's library. Arthur had been out for the morning, running errands, and had left the two boys along to watch out for one another, "I don't think we should do this."

"Nonsense!" Alfred laughed, dragging a chair across the room. He'd been growing steadily alongside his brother and both were growing up to be handsome young men, as Arthur reminded them constantly, but it was quite clear from times like these that they were not quite as old as they thought, "Come on, Mattie! It'll be fun!"

"But, Daddy said-" Matthew tried, only to be cut short by a triumphant outburst from Alfred.

"We're only gonna summon one thing, Mattie," Alfred insisted, "Daddy wont even know because we're gonna send it right back!"

"I don't think we should be playing around with magic," Mattie shook his head, refusing to follow Alfred any farther, "You're going to get into trouble."

"Pfft. I'll just beat up all the dumb spirits if they try anything," Alfred stuck his nose up.

"I'm gonna go to Papa's," Matthew stated, "I don't want to be here when you summon stuff."

"Whatever, Mattie," Alfred waved him away. Matthew glared at his brother's back for a moment before hugging his bear tightly and leaving the house, slamming the door with a bang. Alfred didn't even hear it as he began to flip through the book he'd collected from the other room, looking for the most dangerous spell to test his strength. He finally flipped to a page with a small picture of a man running away from a little doll. He grinned, deciding it was the perfect spell and went to collect all the things needed. He was going to use his rabbit, Mana, as the doll, but when he'd read that the doll should be one you didn't care about, he chose instead to use one of the tons of teddy bears Arthur had bought for him and his brother, making sure it was not his brother's favourite one before he began.

A design was drawn on the table with red crayon that matched the one in the book and Alfred placed the bear inside it. The final step was to chant some words before he was supposed to take a knife and stab it. Getting the kitchen knives had been extra hard, since Arthur had hid them so well, but he eventually found them and grabbed one, carrying it back to his bear.

"Holly molly minor morsa," he chanted, dragging out certain words as he had trouble pronouncing them. The knife was raised high above his head and he was about to bring it down on the bear when someone took him by the wrist, wrenching it out of his grip.

"Alfred F. Kirkland," the voice behind him hissed, "What exactly do you think you're doing, young man?" He turned to face the voice and cowered under Arthur's death glare, chuckling nervously.

"Oh, hi Daddy," he muttered, "I was just doing a thing. Nothing really. I don't really remember anymore because it is dumb so I'm gonna go, b-"

"You're not going anywhere," Arthur scowled, taking him off the table and dragging him over to a chair, where Arthur sat, pulling the young colony across his lap.

"No! Hey! Wait a minute!" Alfred pleaded, but his words fell onto deaf ears.

* * *

"Alfred?" Arthur called into the boy's room, finding it shrouded in darkness. Alfred curled up in his nest of blankets, pointedly ignoring his guardian. Arthur sighed and lit a candle, which cast light onto the lump curled up in the far corner of the bed.

After he'd gotten home, Arthur had realised that Matthew was missing and went to retrieve him from Francis. The frenchman refused to handed over the boy without getting into a yelling match about whether or not he was neglecting his children. The entire thing left him on edge and when Alfred got a bit too loud, he snapped at the boy, sending him to bed without supper. He realised, sitting at the table with Matthew, that he'd made a mistake, because watching the northern twin push around the food on his plate, trying very hard to look grateful, but just being rather disgusted did not help them any. Also, he was pretty sure Matthew was ignoring him for snapping at Alfred like he had.

"Alfred, honey," Arthur sat on the bed, reaching out to touch the boy, but Alfred scooted away from him.

"No. Go away," Alfred commanded, his voice muffled from the blankets, "I hate you."

"No, you don't," Arthur sighed, again, placing his hand on his lap. Alfred poked his head out of the blankets, trying to look angry, but Arthur found it a little hard to take him serious.

"Yes, I do," he insisted.

"Alfred," Arthur continued on, refusing to get into an arguing match with him, "Do you know why you're in trouble?"

"Because you're a meanie jerkface," Alfred answered.

"No," Arthur rolled his eyes, "You're in trouble because you directly disobeyed me when I told you not to touch the magic books and the knives."

"Hmm," Alfred huffed, pulling his blankets around him tighter.

"I don't put rules in place just to be mean," Arthur explained, "I do it for your safety. Do you know what would have happened if you had finished that spell?"

"No..." Alfred admitted.

"That bear would have come to life," Arthur explained, "An evil spirit would have possessed it and it would have tried to hurt you. I know you think you're very strong, but you're still just a little boy. It would have gotten the best of you, eventually. Do you think I would have liked to come home to seeing you hurt?"

"No," Alfred looked down, mumbling his response.

"I care deeply about you," Arthur placed a hand on his head, "It would have broken my heart if anything had happened to you or Matthew while I was out." Alfred's eyes began to water and he looked up, barely able to see as they fogged up his vision.

"Aw, baby, come here," Arthur pulled him into his lap, cradling the boy against him as Alfred sobbed into his shirt. The cries settled down, but they stayed like that for another minute.

"I'm sorry," Alfred mumbled, wiping the snot from his nose with his sleeve, "I just wanted to do something cool."

"Why don't we leave that kind of thing to Daddy, hmm?" Arthur suggested, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and cleaning up Alfred's face before tucking it back away.

"Okay," Alfred agreed.

"That'a boy," Arthur ruffled his hair, "How about we go eat some dinner?"

"Okay," Alfred repeated, wrapping his arms around Arthur's neck.

"You might be getting to big for this, Lad," Arthur mentioned, picking him up with a little difficulty.

"What? No way!" Alfred shook his head, "You have to carry me around, forever!"

"Forever, you say?" Arthur raised an eyebrow and Alfred nodded in confirmation, "Well. I suppose that I can't deny a request like that. Forever it is then - so long as I get breaks every now and again." Alfred giggled, burying his face into Arthur's shoulder and Arthur rubbed his back, letting a small smile of it's own find its way onto his face. He held his baby boy closely, resenting the day he may very well lose him for good.

* * *

With the children both in bed, he finally had the opportunity to clean up from the fiasco earlier. The kitchen table was washed down and the knife was returned to it's proper place. He grabbed the salt, putting a small pile of it on the middle of the table and muttered a protective ward before taking the bear and remaining salt outside.

Although Alfred hadn't been able to finish the ritual, it was better to be safe than sorry, so he created a ring of salt, tossed the bear in the centre and lit it on fire. He muttered another quick ward before burying the entire procedure. The salt was returned to the house and he was about to go to bed when someone tugged on his pant leg. Turning around, he found Matthew standing there, looking away, uncertainly.

"I thought I sent you to bed," Arthur stated, picking him up, "What is it, Matthew?"

"Bad dream," he muttered.

"Of course," Arthur sighed, "Would you like to stay with me, tonight?" Matthew nodded and Arthur took them to his room, tucking them both into bed. A creek sounded near the doorway and he called out, "You, too, Alfred?"

"I was just making sure Mattie was alright," Alfred insisted.

"Just get up here," Arthur motioned towards the open space beside him. Alfred raced across the room and climbed up, settling on his side.

"What were you doing, just now?" Alfred whispered.

"Cleaning," Arthur answered.

"Cleaning what?" Alfred asked.

"Alfred."

"Yeah?"

"Go to sleep."

"Okay," the young colony agreed, closing his eyes and laying his head against Arthur's stomach, Matthew doing the same on his other side. As he stared up at the ceiling, his arms wrapped around both of his boys, Arthur realised just how lucky he was to have them both safe and happy.

"Daddy," Matthew said, "Are you crying?"

"Yeah," Arthur nodded.

"What's wrong?" Alfred perked up, shooting him a worried look.

"Nothing's wrong," Arthur insisted, pushing him back down, "I'm just very happy to have two safe, handsome, young boys. That's all."


End file.
